Maine Vue Optics 3X9X40 Riflescope

 Review by Richard "B" Becraft
 

1. Will it repeat?
2. Will it hold up?
3. Will I be able to see through it when it really matters?
4. Will it fog up on me when I need it most?
5. Does the company stand behind this product?

I used a Ruger 10/22 to establish the out of the box ability of this riflescope to repeat. First I established the rifles capability with two 10 shot groups, fired at 50 yards. All groups shown in this evaluation are 10 shots at 50 yards, fired from a steady rest on a solid platform.

To check the riflescope's ability to take recoil and still perform I mounted the scope on a 12 gauge shotgun and fired a variety of shot and slug loads.

Here in Indiana our shooting hours for deer hunting run until 30 minutes past sunset so I shot a group every 10 minutes from sunset to 30 minutes past.

I put this rifle scope in the refrigerator until it was below freezing and then submerged it in water at room temperature looking for bubbles. This will reveal right away if there is any possible air infiltration with the resultant interior fogging.

To check the validity of their stated lifetime limited warrantee I called the phone number listed on their web site, like any other customer would and ask for warrantee service.

Here is what the 10/22 rifle and I can do with my own regular scope at 50 yards. Those are 1 inch squares I've drawn on 1/4 inch graph paper in the illustration below.


I then removed my own scope and installed the MVO 3x9x40 on the same rifle. After a little adjustment, I shot the center group of ten shots on the target below from 50 yards. Moved 16 clicks left and shot a ten shot group using the same sight picture. Repeat after 16 clicks down and again at 16 clicks back right. There is a piece of metal in the target holder which caused the tearing in the fourth group from lead splatter.


The final move in this series is 16 clicks back up which should complete the square putting the final ten shot group on top of the first one. To demonstrate just how close this came back to center I moved my point of aim to the top right corner of the target and fired the final 10 shot group of this series. These groups are all rapid fire with no time for the barrel to cool down and minimal wind interference. By rapid fire, I'm considering 10 shots in ten or fifteen seconds to be rapid fire. At no time did I perform any of the common tricks to try to "help" the adjustments settle, like tapping the scope or shooting a group off to the side. I just moved 16 clicks, loaded the magazine and shot. Move 16 clicks, load the magazine and shoot.

One curiosity I noticed during this test is the paper work with the scope said the adjustments were 1/8 inch at 100 yards and the turrets inside the cover are marked 1/4 inch at 100 yards.

Next I set up a Remington 1148 with this scope. Just for reference, if you've never heard of a Remington 1148, there is a good reason. The recoil operation of this shotgun is similar to WWII artillery. The barrel recoils on a spring and then slams forward again to chamber the next shell. This thing is really not much fun to shoot with heavy loads and it has already destroyed several scopes.


I used up my remnant 12 gauge shells on this recoil test. I shot every shell in my tag end bowl of all the one's and two's of left over shells from past hunting trips in this gun and scope combination. I shot trap loads, reloads, Remington and Winchester foster slugs and reloaded slugs. After that beating I barely had the nerve but I did shoot the remaining three out of a box of Federal super slugs. I made it through with out any signs of "Scopeye" and the cross hairs were still intact so I removed the MVO riflescope from the recoil test gun and set it up again on the 10/22 for the real test to see how it handled the beating of all that recoil.

The results of the out of the box test and the after recoil test for the scope movements are here side by side for comparison.


Moving the final 16 clicks back to center for the final group after the recoil test I was pretty darn pleased with this considering the beating both the shooter and the scope had just been through.


Before quitting for the afternoon I set up this next test to check clarity and low light performance. These always seem subjective to me so I tried to make mine something easily duplicated for comparison. This way rather than just "good" or some other term relative to an unknown quantity this test can be run any time of year by any one, any where and it should produce a direct comparison. In my opinion it's a question of, "what can I shoot with this?" I want answered and a target can't be biased by what I want it to do. I can either "hit it" or not, regardless of what the scope cost.


Above you'll see the same target I've been using. This time with four cross hairs marked for sundown, sundown +10 minutes, sundown +20 minutes, and sundown +30 minutes. I've deliberately turned the target just a little so the setting sun does not hit the white paper. To the left of the target you'll see an old and weathered life size archery deer target if you look closely in the shadows.

At legal sunset under a cloudless sky and no moon, I sat down to my shooting bench and looked through the scope at the target you see below and could easily pick out the bulls eye in the middle and each of the four marked targets, including the small 1/4 inch hash marks and I fired my first 10 shot group from 50 yards at the upper left target marked S.D. just to confirm I wasn't fooling my self in to seeing what I "wanted" to. I also looked over at the archery target and a heart shot at this distance was a confirmed "gimme".

At 10 minutes past sunset I sat down at the bench again and the light was definitely fading but I could still see the hash marks as well as the vertical and horizontal lines crossing. I fired the confirming group you see in the picture below and I could still clearly see the arrow holes and marks on the deer target 10 yards behind and in the shadows.

At 20 minutes past sunset I could still see the vertical and horizontal crossing lines but the 1/4 inch hash marks had disappeared for me. If not for the other markings on the target and the holes I could see from the previous groups I could not have picked out the correct crossing lines to fire at. This made it difficult because the cross hairs of the scope are covering the crossing lines I want to hit when I can't see the hash marks. I did the best I could and fired the group you see at the position marked +20. It's easy to tell it was getting more difficult as the group opened up some. Still every shot from the group of 10 would have been a killing heart shot on a deer with an adequate weapon or a good head shot on a squirrel with this 22LR. Looking to the Styrofoam deer I could still easily center the cross hairs on the center of the chest cavity but could no longer make out individual flaws or marks on it. As a side note, at this point I decided to see just how another well known brand would compare so I walked to the house and got a Leupold. From the same position and only a couple minutes after shooting the 20 minute group I set this Leupold to 9 power to match the power of the MVO 3x9x40 and I couldn't see the hash marks with this riflescope either. In fact as far as I could tell there wasn't any advantage to it at all at the comparable power setting.

At 30 minutes past sunset I could no longer make out any mark on the paper other than the bold bulls eye, it was clear but the rest of the paper just looked white and I could no longer pick out any part of the archery deer target. I shot my final group of ten shots at the center bull. The total results of this shooting exercise are illustrated in the picture below on the left and on the right is the rest and 10/22 rifle I used.



The last thing I tested the riflescope for was the integrity of the assembly to hold in the inert gasses. Most scope manufactures use inert compressed gas inside these to prevent infiltration of atmospheric air containing moisture. If moisture gets inside it will create moisture on the inside of the lenses. The only thing worse than moisture on your scope on a freezing cold morning when the biggest buck you've ever seen steps in front of you, is moisture fogging it on the inside where you can't wipe it off.

To check this I put the MVO 3x9 power scope in my refrigerator for 3 hours. It was 5 degrees. That's not an unreasonable length of time for a lot of people to hunt in sub freezing weather and the length of time doesn't really matter after the scope becomes the same temperature. Next I ran a sink full of water at room temperature, 70 degrees. This is to simulate bringing your gun in from a freezing morning hunt to set it inside. The point of this is when the gasses inside the scope begin to warm back to room temperature they will expand and if there is any flaw in the seal they will escape. In the water this is obvious and when I put the scope in the water it did bubble from the rubber seal at the eye piece end of the scope. It appeared to bubble at a rate of about one bubble ever couple of seconds.


If gas can get out, air can get in and with it moisture will infiltrate as well. I removed the scope and dried it off before it was fully warmed up so it wouldn't start sucking water back in once it attained room temperature, then I put it in the refrigerator portion to cool it to about 35 degrees. I wanted to see if it had leaked enough to create fogging on the inside. After about 30 minutes I took it out and it immediately fogged on the outside of the lenses but wiping them off gave a clear view showing no signs of moisture infiltration or fogging to the inside of the scope yet.

One other trait of this scope came to my attention as I attempted to install it on my Savage 110, 30-06, for the recoil test. It won't fit. The one inch tube portion of this scope where the rings fit is 5.5 inches long and the outside length for scope rings at their nearest on a Savage 110 is about 6 inches. This makes it unreasonable if not impossible to install this on a Savage rifle with a long action such as a 30-06 and the same was true on my Savage 243. I did check the Ruger M77 and it would be no problem there or on any of my shotgun mounts. It is something you need to check prior to purchasing.


I don't consider it part of my job to say this piece of equipment is just what "Joe B" needs for his job in southern Indiana or the job "Jonny B" is doing in Maine. I feel the job of the reviewer of a piece of equipment is to give the reader the facts. Useful facts they need to know prior to a purchase and I've attempted to stay as close to just the facts so you may make an informed decision. You know the time of day you hunt and the weather conditions there. I couldn't possibly know. I also purposely don't know what the price of this equipment is. I put it through the same check list I would to test a Leupold or a Tasco. People want to know what it will do when they buy it. Moving from the facts to express a couple of opinions, I'd say I put this through at least a couple of years of use. I would not rule it out because of the bubble, because not every one hunts for hours in sub freezing weather. This may last for years and years of summer, fall, and spring use or it may fog in a few months of subjection to every day extreme temperature changes.

One thing I can say is I believe if there is ever a problem with this equipment the warrantee will be absolutely no problem. I deliberately tested the warrantee as well. Just as any other purchaser would do, I looked through the paper work and warrantee information to find the Main View Optics web page at MVOptics.com. On their web page I found phone numbers to contact them for warrantee work and told them I had one of their products here with a problem and it was absolutely no trouble at all to get them to take care of it. They offered a full exchange and were extremely gracious. In fact I don't know how they could have been any more accommodating in their offer to help me get my equipment back in order before the coming deer season. I did not tell them who I was or that I was reviewing their product so I have no doubt that any other customer can expect the same excellent service that I'd rank as high as any one in the business, regardless of the price of the product.

I hope you've enjoyed the time we've spent together here and find this information helpful in deciding if this product can help you "get the job done" where and when you hunt. I'll see you in the field, Richard "B" Becraft. Hunt hard, hunt safe and have fun my friends.